AMHERST -- Everyone in Hockey East knows the River Hawks have the talent. Sunday night they finally unsheathed the talons.

Riley Wetmore turned the hat trick, Joseph Pendenza added two goals, and slump-ridden Hockey East Rookie of the Year Scott Wilson also scored and had a three-point night as UMass Lowell blitzed UMass Amherst, 8-2, in front of a turnout of 2,426 at the Mullins Center.

The River Hawks had scored just 13 goals in their first eight games this season and dropped out of the national rankings before putting eight of their 23 shots into the cage against two UMass Amherst goaltenders.

Freshman Dimitry Sinitsyn became the first UML defenseman to score a goal this season, and freshman Christian Folin dished out two assists as the defense corps contributed three points after scoring just six in the first eight games.

"When you don't get any offense from your defensemen, it's hard to put all the pressure on the forwards," said UML coach Norm Bazin, who brought in a several offensively-skilled defensemen this year. "But it's going to come. We just have to keep doing the right things, and tonight there were a lot of good things."

Everything clicked for the first time this season as the River Hawks, who hadn't scored more than three goals in any of their eight previous games, became the first team to ever score eight goals on the Minutemen at the Mullins Center.

"It's certainly nice to break out, a relief for some of the guys," Bazin said. "It was nice to see some of those guys capitalize, because they had been gripping the sticks awfully hard.

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"Hopefully we can carry this into the next game."

UMass Lowell upped its record to 3-5-1, 2-4-1 in Hockey East, and grabbed a one-game edge in the Alumni Cup series while the Minutemen fell to 3-5-1, 2-5-1 in league play.

"After Friday night's game (a 3-0 loss to New Hampshire) we talked about guys playing for the names on the backs of our uniforms instead of the front, and everyone took it personal," said Wetmore, UML's captain, who has now tallied five goals in the last four games after being held scoreless in the first five.

"We just wanted to come out and play Lowell hockey, honest hockey, and that's what we did tonight."

Sinitsyn put the River Hawks ahead at 8:16 of the first period, slipping between the defense at the blue line and rifling a shot past Jeff Teglia from the top of the left circle. Wetmore scored at 10:42 on a shot from the slot, and Pendenza chased Teglia at 16:26 with a power-play goal from the center of the left circle.

UML doubled its lead and broke the game open with three goals 84 seconds apart in the second period.

Wetmore pounced on a loose puck that had tumbled behind relief goalie Steve Mastalerz at 7:07 to ignite the flurry, and Wilson dived across the goal mouth to poke a centering pass from Shayne Thompson into the cage at 8:00.

The senior Wetmore completed his first collegiate hat trick 31 seconds later, tipping in a feed at the left post to make it 6-0.

It was the first hat trick by a UML player since David Vallorani performed the feat, also against UMass Amherst, on Dec. 5, 2009.

The Minutemen scored twice on two-man power plays later in the game, and Doug Carr finished with 24 saves. Josh Holmstrom netted UML's final goal in the third period.

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